• RFU members have friends and neighbours in these communities and their safety is of paramount importance. We believe that the provision of essential services such as fire and rescue is vital to those who live in rural, semi rural and isolated communities. It is a fact that on many occasions a fire station is the single remaining example of available community support. We never forget that those who live in these areas are taxpayers too; RDS personnel provide an efficient and cost effective service to those who perceive that just because they don’t live in a city they are unimportant.

• We support and encourage our members who take part in local risk reduction and community education to prevent accidental fires and arson. We believe that we can help to reduce risk by demonstrating citizenship to young people who may have never had the guidance and support of a conventional family structure, educating the community about risk helps them to protect themselves.

• We believe that every citizen has a right expect a reasonable quality of life and this has to include provision for worse case scenario situations such as fire, flooding, extreme weather and accidents in the home or the highway. RDS personnel are best placed to provide support for when this happens.

• We witness community based services being gradually withdrawn altogether, or relocated away from isolated communities. As a non striking legitimate trade union we are committed to doing all we can outside of direct strike action to lobby the decision makers.

• We believe that the vulnerable and disadvantaged amongst us have a right to expect that notwithstanding the location, they will be provided with a “fit for purpose” proactive emergency service provided where appropriate, by RDS personnel. This includes the provision of “first on scene” Fire Co- Responders who contribute so much in medical emergency situations and save many lives each year. “Voluntary” does not mean “unprofessional” we support joint working with voluntary groups who by their very nature are committed to community wellbeing and who should be encouraged and supported in the valuable work they do.

• Shared responsibility is not an outdated concept; the public will benefit from the state and the voluntary sector working together. We believe that many of the solutions are best identified and where possible addressed at a local level. Very often when change is imposed from the centre, the one size fits all approach fails the very people it was intended to benefit.

• The RFU fully supports national resilience within the requirements of the Civil Contingencies Act; historically RFU members were some of the first to crew New Dimensions Assets (Mass Decontamination Units) at a time when there was opposition from other unions.

• As a non striking union RFU members have had to experience inappropriate behaviour levelled at them because they chose not to strike. However Fires and other emergencies do not recognise strike action, and therefore neither does the RFU.

• At Service level we work in partnership with a number of Fire Authorities and reach mutually beneficial outcomes using this approach. We strongly support the ethos of………. “Part of the solution rather than the problem”……. Where we take issues to the service we also provide potential solutions. We are recognised by a number of Authorities but there are also those who refuse to do so, usually because of allegiances to other Representative Bodies.

• The existing National Negotiation mechanism continues to fail the moderate within the Fire and Rescue Service. Notwithstanding the recently agreed New NJC Constitution, negotiating terms and conditions remain in the control of the Fire Brigades Union (FBU). Until such time as this mechanism is amended to accommodate all stakeholders there will be the potential for strikes and disruption and the RFU will be asked to step up as it has before and then soon forgotten once the dispute is over.

• It is our belief that the Fire and Rescue Service in the UK is influenced and controlled to a greater extent by the needs of Metropolitan Fire Authorities, sometimes at the expense of the shire fire and rescue services who have limited resources to meet the same challenges and expectations.

• We believe that in some areas the retained service is being allowed to decline because in certain circles it would suit their agenda for this to happen. A depleted retained service can only result in a need for more wholetime personnel at a significant increase in cost. Despite our perception of the slow strangulation of a service staffed by paid ‘Volunteers’ we shall continue to raise the profile of those who serve in it to meet the needs of those they are willing to serve.

RFU – Using the power of argument rather than the argument of power